Banke. Last year, the house of Uttam Singh Punjabawi, a resident of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City-7, collapsed due to incessant rains. His family was under a lot of stress after the house he built after years of hard work was destroyed.
“I still feel scared when I think about that night. Part of the house collapsed due to the incessant rain. All the family members ran away and saved our lives,” Panjabi said. On top of that, he was worried about how to raise money to build a house again. I couldn’t sleep for many days. ’
Due to poor financial condition, there was no possibility of repairing the house immediately, but the housing insurance program implemented by Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City proved to be a boon for him. A Punjabi man has been resurrected after he received a claim payment of Rs 2,32,900 under the insurance scheme from the National Insurance Company.
Recalling the moment he got emotional when Mayor Prashant Bista handed over the cheque as the first beneficiary, he said, “Why did you have to insure your house earlier? Now, due to the same insurance, there is a situation of vomiting. The housing insurance program is a great help for poor and low-income families during disasters. ’
Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City has implemented the housing insurance programme at ward no 3 and 7 for disaster risk reduction. So far, 184 families have been enrolled under the programme targeting vulnerable families.
Mayor Bista said the housing insurance programme was implemented with the objective of creating the base of security before disaster strikes rather than distributing relief after disaster. “We never know exactly when a disaster will strike, but we can build preparedness to minimize its impact. The insurance program started with this idea is becoming effective,” he said.
Mayor Bista shared that the programme which was initiated from two wards has now been expanded to wards 8 and 11 and there is a plan to incorporate vulnerable families of all wards in the coming days. Narainapur Rural Municipality, Kohalpur Municipality and Khajura Rural Municipality are preparing to implement the programme from this fiscal year.
Disaster liaison Dipendra Shrestha said the housing insurance programme has helped raise awareness among the community about disaster and help in post-disaster rehabilitation. “Earlier, the citizens used to face problems after announcing the insurance, but now the trust in the community has increased after they started getting the benefit,” he said, adding that other local levels are also preparing to implement the program. That’s a good thing. ’
The sub-metropolis bears the insurance premium and the insured will be provided up to Rs 15 lakh depending on the damage.
According to locals, incidents of incessant rain, inundation and storm have increased in recent years. Families living in poor structures are more affected by this. In such a situation, the housing insurance program is expected to help.
For this, the Super Programme is providing technical cooperation in the disaster preparedness and management that is being implemented here. The programme, which is being run with the financial support of the European Union and in partnership with various organizations including UNDP, has been carrying out disaster risk reduction activities in coordination with Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City. –RSS
